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WSC Athletics Overview & History
Wayne State College is a proud member of the
National Collegiate
Athletic Association (NCAA). Its 15-sport program competes
at the Division II level. Men's sports sponsored include baseball,
basketball, cross country, football, golf, indoor track and
field and outdoor track and field. The women compete in basketball,
cross country, golf, indoor track and field, outdoor track
and field, softball, volleyball and soccer. WSC is a member
of the Northern
Sun Intercollegiate Conference in all sports.
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History
Athletics at Wayne State College have enjoyed
a rich tradition of success and been an important part of
college life since at least 1912, when football began competition
as an intercollegiate sport. Men's basketball began around
that same time, and men's track & field started in the
early 1920s. Through World War II those three sports were
the main varsity sports on campus, with the athletes and coaches
for all three generally being the same. During those years
Wayne State competed in the Nebraska Intercollegiate Athletic
Association (NIAA), which  included
the other three Teachers Colleges (Chadron, Kearney and Peru)
and for a time Omaha University.
The post-war era brought many changes to WSC
athletics. First, the NIAA became the Nebraska College Conference
(NCC) and through the 1950s included nearly all the colleges
in Nebraska. Several new sports were added, including baseball,
cross-country, golf, swimming, tennis and wrestling. For a
while boxing was even a varsity sport - one at which Wayne
State was very successful, winning several conference team
and individual titles.
The 1960s were one of the high points of WSC
athletics, with some of school's most successful athletes
and teams coming from that decade. Several teams and individuals
made their mark on the national level, with perhaps swimming
and wrestling being the cream of the crop. However, other
sports like cross-country (9th at the NAIA national meet in
1960), basketball (several national tournament appearances
in the late 1960s) and track and field (Frank Burgasser, national
champion in the javelin in 1969) enjoyed some of their greatest
successes during this period. The 1970 football team, which
made WSC's only appearance in a bowl game, marked the end
of an era.
During the 1970s, athletics at WSC - and at
many colleges across the country - struggled to redefine its
role in an era of declining enrollments and budgets. By 1980,
cross-country, golf, indoor track, swimming, tennis and wrestling
were dropped.
There were some bright spots, however. Cross-country
won its only conference title in 1975, and the newly added
women's varsity sports of basketball, softball and volleyball
competed at national tournaments during the seventies. The
NCC, which had shrunk to just the four state colleges by the
1970s, disbanded in 1976. Wayne State and Kearney State then
joined the Central States Intercollegiate Conference (CSIC),
which became known as one of the toughest conferences at that
level in the country.
A leaner athletic department was able to compete
successfully in the CSIC during the 1980s. The women's track
and field team, while never able to capture the conference
crown, had some of the best sprinters and relay teams the
school has ever had. The baseball team also was very successful
during those years, as was volleyball and women's basketball.
The 1988-89 school year marked the beginning
of a new era for the WSC athletics program. As the CSIC disbanded,
the school ended its long-time association with the National
Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) to step up
to the NCAA Division II level. That change has brought an
increased level of funding to the program, along with the
higher level of competition and prestige NCAA membership brings
with it.
In 1988, Pete Chapman became the school's first
full-time athletic director to help Wayne State College make
the transition to NCAA Division II athletics. The 1989-90
season marked Wayne State's first year of competition in NCAA
Division II athletics. While being an independent presented
its own unique challenges, WSC rose to the challenge and developed
strong regional programs capable of competing at the national
level. Three highlights include the 1993 football team's record
of 9-1 (best since 1949), Lamart Cooper's 55-meter dash national
title during the 1996 indoor track season and James McGown's
three NCAA All-America honors in cross-country, indoor track
and outdoor track during the 1997-98 school year.
In 1997, women's soccer was added as a varsity
sport at Wayne State, giving the school 15 varsity sports
(eight women's programs and seven men's programs). It was
the first varsity sport added at Wayne State since 1989 when
women's golf made its debut.
The late 1990's also saw the Wayne State men's
basketball team turn into one of the top teams in the NCAA
Division II North Central Region under coach Greg McDermott.
The Wildcats posted five straight 20-win seasons from 1996-2000
and reached the NCAA Post-Season Tournament twice. WSC hosted
the 1999 North Central Regional Tournament at Rice Auditorium
and advanced to the Sweet 16 in the 1999-2000 season, falling
to eventual national champion Metro State in the North Central
Regional championship game in Denver. The Wildcats finished
the 1999-2000 season with a 26-6 record, setting a school
record for wins in a season.
On May 20, 1998 the Northern Sun Intercollegiate
Conference announced that it was expanding to 10 teams, with
WSC, Concordia-St. Paul and Minnesota-Crookston to be its
newest members. Wayne State has benefitted from the increased
visibility of its athletic programs and the opportunity to
compete for individual and team conference titles and honors
through its membership in the NSIC.
The 1999-2000 WSC men's basketball team was the first to win
a Northern Sun Conference title. In 2001, the Wildcat baseball
team won their first NSIC title and advanced to the NCAA Central
Region Tournament for the first time in school history. The
WSC volleyball team clinched the 2001 NSIC regular season
title and just missed a berth in the NCAA Tournament with
a 24-9 record.
The 2005-06 school year proved to be Wayne State's most successful
as a member of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.
The Wildcats won five conference titles and finished second
in the NSIC's All-Sports Competition. WSC won conference titles
in men's cross country, men's indoor track and field, women's
basketball, baseball and men's outdoor track and field.
2005-06 also marked the first time that Wayne State College
sent three teams to NCAA regional play as the volleyball,
women's basketball and baseball teams all participated in
NCAA regional competition. For volleyball and women's basketball,
it marked their first appearances in NCAA post season play
while the baseball team reached the NCAA post season for the
third straight season and fourth time in six years. Another
milestone was achieved by Katie Wilson during the indoor track
and field season as the shot putter placed fifth at the NCAA
Div. II Indoor National Track and Field Championships to become
the school's first NCAA All-American in women's track and
field.
Facilities at Wayne State have also undergone
improvements in recent years. A new floor was installed in
Rice Auditorium in 2004, the Pete Chapman Baseball/Softball
Complex is one of the best in the region with a oak, wood
fence installed at the baseball field during the 2005 and
'06 seasons. Bob Cunningham Field witnessed a new, eight-lane
running track put in during the spring and summer of 2003
and the WSC Recreation Center installed a new, six-lane mondo
track surface in 2001. With the improved facilities, Wayne
State has been able to host such events as the 2003 NCAA North
Central Regional Cross Country Championships, the 2004 NSIC
Indoor Track and Field Championships, the 2004, '05 and '06
NSIC Baseball Tournament, the 2006 NSIC Red Baron Women's
Basketball Classic and the 2006 NSIC Outdoor Track and Field
Championships. WSC is also scheduled to host the 2006 NCAA
Division II North Central Regional Cross Country Championships
in the fall of 2006.
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